INVESTIGATION ON SOUND ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT OF NATURAL PADDY FIBERS

Abstract

The use of synthetic materials as acoustic absorbers is
still applied extensively in building industry. These nonbiodegradable materials do not only cause pollution to
the environment, but also contribute significantly in
increasing the CO2 causing the effect of global warming.
Therefore researchers have now driven their attentions to
find sustainable and eco-friendly materials to be an
alternative sound absorber. This paper discusses the use
of natural fibers from dried paddy straw as a fibrous
acoustic material. Since this is one of common natural
waste materials found across South East Asia, the usage
will also minimize the production cost. A panel sound
absorber from paddy straw is fabricated and its acoustic
properties are investigated through experiment. Good
acoustic performance is found particularly above 2 kHz
and is comparable against that from the classical
synthetic absorber.